An ultimate object of communication is, of course, to enable information to be transmitted or exchanged at once anytime, from anywhere, and by anybody. In addition to conventional intercommunication between fixed points, mobile communication has been gradually developed. Mobile communication means a communication between a mobile body such as ship, automobile, or airplane (including a human being) and a fixed point such as home or office, and also means an intercommunication between two mobile bodies. In recent years, a portable telephone or a cordless telephone as a kind of means for carrying out the mobile communication has been extensively developed.
In general, a telephone is used with a receiver section put to the ear and a transmitter section kept near the mouth. So also in a portable telephone, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient distance between the receiver section and the transmitter section. In this circumstance, a conventional portable telephone itself is relatively long and large in size.
A portable telephone having a foldable cover for protecting a switch section of the portable telephone is known. In this portable telephone, a microphone is provided in the cover so as to ensure a sufficient distance between a speaker and the microphone.
In the above described conventional portable telephone, the distance between the receiver section and the transmitter section, both provided in a telephone body, is set to be substantially equal to the distance between the ear and the mouth of a user. Accordingly, such portable telephone cannot be made sufficiently compact. A manufacturing technology for parts constituting the portable telephone has been advanced to supply compact and inexpensive parts. In this viewpoint only, a compact portable telephone can be manufactured relatively easily. However, since there exists a human engineering demand that the distance between the receiver section and the transmitter section should be substantially equal to that between the ear and the mouth, this demand causes a hindrance in practically manufacturing a compact portable telephone.
Further, in the conventionally proposed portable telephone having a foldable cover, since the microphone is provided in the cover, a microphone cord is liable to break due to repeated opening and closing operation of the cover.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone which can ensure a sufficient distance between the receiver section and the transmitter section during telephonic communication regardless of the compact construction of the telephone body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone which can protect the switch section in an inoperative condition and improve an S/N characteristic in the transmitter section when in an operative condition.